EVERY WINNER WAS ONCE A BEGINNER...

ACADEMY BOSS NICK COX TALKS TO THE M.E.N. ABOUT CONNECTING KIDS TO MANCHESTER’

- SAMUEL LUCKHURST

THE words 'Every winner was once a beginner' are emblazoned in block white capitals on the scarlet red wall.

Now-and-then images of Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho adorn the opposite wall.

The black-and-white portrait of McTominay was taken months after his United debut when he was aged 20. Rashford is no older than 16 and a 17-year-old Garnacho is hoisting the FA Youth Cup.

Tom Heaton and Paul McShane, back at Carrington in playing and coaching roles, also appear in an embrace from 2005 when United's reserves won the FA Premier Reserve League Shield at Charlton Athletic. "I don't know what Paul McShane's doing up there," jokes the affable academy head Nick Cox.

The message is clear: all five academy graduates - goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, winger and forward have represented their countries and played regularly in the Premier League. All five drive through the Carrington barriers daily.

The photographs are married with monochrome shots of Manchester Town Hall and the city skyline.

"We've spent so much time trying reconnect everyb back Manchester," Cox explains, "to our history but also to the city." United have held academy staff meetings at the Museum of Science and Industry and

invited folk from the city to present to them. Tony Walsh, a lifelong United fan who uttered the immortal This Is The Place poem days after the Manchester Arena attack, struck a chord.

"It's the balance of a global brand but still feeling like an intimate family," Cox explains.

Inside the new academy gym, goalkeeper Tom Wooster is lifting weights with a coach, Shola Shoretire, Ashton Missin and Malachi Sharpe are loosening up on an exercise bike, preparing to brace the lashing rain.